By Ali Younes
Muslims and Islamic organizations across the world condemned in strongest terms, and rightly so, the massacre against the journalists and editors of the satirist French Magazine Charlie Hebdo, even when at the same time disagreed and disapproved with Charlie Hebdo’s insults against the Muslim faith.
Western media acts free of any legal and moral constraints to spread bigotry against Muslims, attack Islam, insults Prophet Mohammad, for no reason other than it can do so in the name of “ freedom of press” and with legal and moral sanction from the political establishments there. To attack Islam and Prophet Mohammad in the name of freedom of press is irresponsible and is a form of racism and intolerance. The way western media treats terrorism and Muslim extremists is akin to someone who is trying to punish a serial killer by going after his elderly parents.
In the minds of millions of decent and law abiding Muslims everywhere in the world, only Islam is treated in such irresponsible and racist manner by the western media.
The real question we should be asking ourselves here is why western media and European governments in their response to terrorism chose to insult and punish Islam and the broader community of Muslims for the actions of few criminals.
More importantly, however,for Muslims, the response to such media attacks and insults should never be through any form of terrorism or murder or violence.
The terrorists who murdered the French journalists were a product of an environment that made the rise of terrorism and terrorist organizations much easier and in some cases facilitated it. Western policies in the region have historically used all kind of brute violence, wars and terrorism to advance its interests and policies in the Middle East. It also used and helped Islamic groups, labeled them as “Mujahideen” when it suited them as was the case in Afghanistan in the eighties, then labeled them “terrorists” when they became no longer useful . The West aided by Arab regimes allowed, and created a nurturing environment and in some cases funded and trained terrorist groups in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen to destroy those countries and then fighting the same terrorist groups it helped create in the first place.
In the twisted minds of deranged terrorists, western policies aided by the western media are waging a war against Islam as a faith and as a religion. For them, “standing up to the faith” through violence and terrorism is a noble mission even if it costs them their lives at the end. The west especially western media should really differentiate between terrorists who happened to be Muslims and using Islam as their vehicle and Islam as a global faith with over a billion adherents.
Just as Muslims say and preach that they should never respond to media insults and cartoons against their prophet and their religion with murder and terrorism, western media should, too, never respond to acts of terrorism by Muslim extremists by insulting Islam and the prophet.
Ali Younes is the Editor of the Arab Daily News. He can be reached at aliyounes@theArabdailynews.com and on twitter @clearaliyounes
Ali Younes
Ali Younes is a Senior Political Analyst for The Arab Daily News online newspaper. He is a veteran news-editor, Journalist, and a Middle East analyst working for major American news network . He is based in Washington, D.C.
Reach Ali at aliyounes99@gmail.com
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guys i cant get it. we dont respect other cultures(if we consider someone barbaric is our view), we killed million muslims in france,turkey,england,america,israel wars and we expect them to say “thx, please fuck us more?” they are arabs they still have morals and if war is needed they will sacrifice themselves for beliefs. if you cant grasp the honorable beauty of arabs and islam something is missing from your life. btw, get serious they cannot invade europe and if they do then fight them. its ok. but so far they just defend themselves and whoenever a conflict starts in the east we go and “solve it”(like Iraq as you could see). history and morals are written by the prevailing culture. dont believe that everything promoted by media is always your World view.if my opinion makes me barbarian i dont give a fuck.
It’s not a phobia when they really are out to kill you.
Not true “Mullah Lodabullah” … Mohammed did no more to mock Jesus than Jews did to mock Jesus. The truth is Islam respects and honors all of the same prophets from the Jewish and Christian religion. But the racism on this page really shows that Americans harbor more hatred and racism than Arabs
The ‘prophet’ Mohammad mocked and blasphemed against Jesus Christ, denying both His deity and crucifixion. Those who follow Mohammad do so at their peril, as do any who follow false prophets.
The Prophet Mohammed led armies against communities of peaceful Christians, killing and enslaving them. His followers have continued the practice until today. The first Crusade was not mounted until more than four hundred years AFTER the Prophet first started his violent conquest of his neighbors. Islam will not be spread peacefully because it does not have a rational basis.
Peace…
“The terrorists who murdered the French journalists were a product of an
environment that made the rise of terrorism and terrorist organizations
much easier and in some cases facilitated it. Western policies in the
region have historically used all kind of brute violence, wars and
terrorism to advance its interests and policies in the Middle East.”
Ah, the ol’ west and poverty helps creates radical Islam. You know what, rich people get involved in cults like scientology. Bin Ladin was a rich boy, and the 9/11 hijackers were no paupers. What you are saying i junk. Ideology is what creates these people. The arrogance of religion, and Islam, the arrogance of “knowing the truth” and everybody else should follow it, and i cannot be touched. Racist? No one is insulting Persians, Arabs, Pashtun, Turkman, etc. West are insulting an ideology, a concept, and everybody should have the right to question it, mock it, debate it, insult it, praise it without getting shot. Or, even yet, without getting shunned or thrown in jail, like it is the practice in many Muslim countries.
“western media should, too, never respond to acts of terrorism by Muslim extremists by insulting Islam and the prophet.”
Islam is not a race, not a gender, not a people, it’s concept, and the west, east, African, Latin American have every right to insult an ideology as they have a right to question communist, fascism, democracy, Christianity, hinduism, etc. If the world views Islam as akin to fascism , the world has to stand up and mock and criticize it.
I love the rightwing venom so far. Really? You mock everything? Like mocking American soldiers and veterans who commit warcrimes. Would that be acceptable to you? Of course, you probably didn’t serve so you would oppose that, I am sure. But as long as the targets are Muslims (and Arabs), satire, mocking and racist hatred are ok? Pretty said commentary on America’s elastic moral and ethical codes.
Yes, there is plenty of mocking of American soldiers. There has been in the past, although a bit stigmatized today due to the rethinking of how the Vietnam War veterans, still, it’s not unheard of. Hell, I know veterans of Iraq war that mock our military for being there. You may get a bad glance, but no one is killing you for it. And, no one is mocking Arabs, or any of the ethnic group in the middle east. Satirizing the concept of Islam, mocking it, criticizing it ,is not mocking an ethnic group and is not racist. If the Persian people would remove Islamic yoke from their society, they would be in the G10, Iran would be a less isolated and more prosperous nation. I say that because many of the Iranians that come to the States become secular, and prosper. See, I think Persians are cool, it’s Islam that is not.
Cram it. We mock EVERYONE here in the west. Charlie Hebdo had plenty of antisemitic cartoons as well. And anti-American ones, and ones mocking his own country.
Freedom of Speech does NOT mean the protection of popular speech. Popular speech needs no protection. It means the protection of speech which is unpopular and provocative.
The remedies to speech you do not like are either, 1. More speech, in counterpoint, or 2. refusing to listen / look.
Never violence.
If you cannot understand that, you are part of the problem and should stay the hell out of the west.
We do not HAVE to mock your religion and culture here in the west.
Your own blithering stupidity and savagery mocks yourselves far beyond our paltry power to do so.
Do the world a favor: Close your borders until you decide to stop murdering everyone who ‘disrespects’ you, and you have an enlightenment.
“In the minds of millions of decent and law abiding Muslims everywhere in the world, only Islam is treated in such irresponsible and racist manner by the western media.”
Do you have it in you to ask why only Islam provokes its adherents to terrorism in the modern world? There are millions more Christians than Muslims, yet nobody goes into a public place with Kalashnikovs or bombs shouting, “Praise the Lord!” There is nothing in the holy scripture of Christianity, nothing in the tradition of Judaism, Hinduism, or Buddhism to breed such behavior. Yet within the scripture and tradition of Islam, it is not hard to find. Only when Muslims examine your own scripture, allow intelligent inquiry into your own traditions — as happened with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation — can Islam stop becoming the inspiration for terrorism. Your arguments against the West will become more and more hollow without that.
Really?! You are clearly ignorant of history or being deceptive. The Bible in particular is rife with violence against the non-believer and has been cited time and time again as justification for violence, conquest and subjugation of entire cultures and nations worldwide. You are ignorant or ignoring news of those who do indeed kill saying “praise the Lord” and in fact some calling themselves the “Lord’s Army” and killing and maiming in his name in Africa today? What about the Zionists settlers who slaughter Palestinians, Hindus who slaughter Muslims in India, Buddhists who slaughter Muslims in Asia? Stop displaying your own prejudice before the world and either open your eyes or be honest. There is a double-standard towards Islam and Muslims in the West and it is as clear as day. It is not to say there is not a problem among Muslims and how some are interpreting their theology or using their religion, but to pretend there is none among Christians, Jews or even Hindus and Buddhist is absolutely false and flies in the face of reality.
Had you written “Western media should not treat any religion as a target of its insults in the name of freedom of the press,” I would agree. But, as always, Muslims are seeking preferential treatment.
If all of the adherents of the ‘religion of peace’ are unable to police their own home grown terrorists, listen to this: we infidels are going to do it for you. Go right ahead and try to bring that jihad sh!t to America, just be sure to bring your own body bags with you. Don’t make excuses for Islamic terrorism, it doesn’t matter if it is the now dead dirt bags who are NOT in ‘paradise’ after their cowardly acts in Paris, or if it is ISIS in Iraq murdering all non-Muslims who won’t submit. The fact is, Islam is THE most intolerant so-called ‘religion’ on the planet and the evidence is right in your alleged ‘holy book’.
PS – When Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, returns, He is going to kick ALL of your a$$es, got it?